CONCEPTS BEYOND, LLC — Department of Defense SBIR Phase I: N211-010

Description

We are proposing to design and develop “ACTER” – Air traffic Cloud-based TrainER, in collaboration with Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University (ERAU). ERAU researchers have developed a web-based ATC Scenario Training Technology (ASTT) application, simulating the FAA’s ERAM system. ASTT was developed under a funded research with FAA’s Center of Excellence for Technical Training and Human Performance to investigate potentials of online and home-based training requirements for FAA Academy. ERAU will provide the source code and documentation of ASTT, as well as ATC training course material and expertise to Concepts beyond (CB) to collaboratively build a cloud-based gaming system on top of ERAU’s ASTT simulation engine. Our proposed game will utilize ASTT’s web-based architecture, flight simulation engine, radar and radar associated automation, with many add on features such as 3D Tower view, Electronic Flight Strip, and optional voice and virtual reality rendering. The players advance in a progression system where they start from a Ground Controller rank with defined rank badge color, operations, growing number of traffic, and event as they progress through the rank. Once the player unlocks all events and capabilities in their rank, they are promoted to the next rank. The events and capability milestones will be built by our ATC instructors based on FAA and ERAU course syllabus. Scenarios will be generated based on historical data of real-live operations or instructor generated, where the scenario generation engine verifies and adapts the scenario events and player activity requirements to the player’s rank. A feedback loop in the game will suggest scenarios to the player based on their past performance. We will design modes of play on top of ASTT’s single player mode, where student players can play online scenarios alone or together, despite their rank and level of expertise, at the comfort of their home and personal internet devices. In multiple player mode, players will control Ground, Tower, Radar and Radar Associate Approach positions in the same scenario, where same aircraft flight plan and surveillance data are routed to their displays based on the predicted trajectories and sector boundary crossing prediction. Based on our research and experience, there are a few online ATC related games that are low fidelity games that are not intended for training purposes and are mostly developed for amusement. On the contrary our innovation will be online, browser based, no software or hardware needed, plays on any internet capable device. It can play a single scenario on multiple devices, and have students collaborate on single scenario, with multiple ATC sectors such as approach and tower, and allows for instructors to have live access to the games being played to mentor students.